Iran to hang nine more over election violence

Iran will hang nine more people who were involved in unrest after last June's disputed presidential election.

Senior judiciary official Ebrahim Raisi said the nine were arrested in riots in December and "had links to anti-revolutionary groups", the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Two men hanged last week were among a group of 11 people sentenced to death on charges including "waging war against God" and being members of armed groups.

Today opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, the former prime minister who challenged president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the repression showed that the 1979 Islamic revolution which overthrew the US-backed Shah "had not achieved its goals".

"Filling the prisons and brutally killing protesters show that the root of ... dictatorship remain from the monarchist era," he said on his Kalemeh website.

An influential cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, praised the hangings and urged the judiciary to execute more.

Mr Mousavi said: "The cruel cleric praises the judiciary for the hangings despite serious concerns over the methods used for getting confessions from detainees."

Eight people, including a nephew of Mr Mousavi, were killed in demonstrations during the Shi'ite ritual of Ashura on 27 December and more than 1,000 were arrested. Iran will mark the anniversary of the revolution on 11 February with state rallies.